Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Social Tees at The Cat Show at White Columns Gallery

Last Friday evening, we attended The Cat Show at White Columns Gallery in the West Village that featured art focused on cats, side by side with real rescue cats from Social Tees Animal Rescue. The show continues through July 27th, but the cats are only in residence through June 20th, so get thee to the gallery which is located at 320 West 13th Street in NYC (212-924-4212). Hint: Use the West 4th Street entrance on the other side of the building. (We circled the building [in the pouring rain] trying to find the right door.) After June 20th, you can see more cats in action at Social Tees at 325 East 5th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues (right next to the police station).

Photo by Marisa Office/NYC Art Parasite

The Cat Show -- Curated by Rhonda Lieberman

(Organized in partnership with the Social Tees Animal Rescue.)

June 14 – July 27, 2013

Adoption events occur during gallery hours of 12-6pm on the following days:
June 21 - 22
June 28 - 29
July 12 - 13
July 19 - 20

The gallery's website says: White Columns is proud to present ‘The Cat Show’ curated by writer and artist Rhonda Lieberman, and developed in partnership with the Social Tees Animal Rescue, who will offer cats for adoption during ‘The Cats-in-Residence Program' to be held in the gallery on June 14/15 and July 19/20.

CATS AND ART TOGETHER AT LAST: The Cat Show features adoptable purr-formers (a.k.a. cats).

For information about the event, click here or go to White Columns' website @

Even though it was pouring rain, we made our way through the storm because Social Tees is one of our favorite charities and because we are both incorrigible cat lovers. (Hmm. Are we incorrigible or do we love incorrigible cats? It's a little of both!)

Photo by Marisa Office/NYC Art Parasites

Robert Shapiro is Social Tees Animal Rescue founder and Samantha Brody is the mastermind behind the charity's social media connections and website. Don't you love the sentiment on their tee shirts which were designed by Robert?

Photo by Marisa Office/NYC Art Parasites

A number of artists, including such household names as Patti Smith, Kehinde Wiley (below), Gus Van Sant, Gary Indiana, Matthew Barney, Elizabeth Peyton, Richard Prince and Barbara Kruger, displayed their work at the show. For a review of the show, just click here or go to: http://www.nyc-artparasites.com/reviews/cat-power-1169 For a complete list of the artists, scroll down to the bottom of this post.

Here is one of Social Tees' tee shirts for your dog or cat! And they do come in different sizes. (If you look closely, you can see Jean's rings reflected in the glass.)

A centerpiece of the show is this wonderfully artistic cat play pen, with playful cat figures holding up the red shelves. It was home on opening night to a mother cat and two of her adorable kittens. As cats and kittens are adopted, rescue cat replacements quickly fill the vacancies.

Despite all of the noise and the crowd scene, this little kitty slumbered undisturbed.

And now, for the art work! This wonderful piece is by the aptly named artist Siobhan Meow who confided that the painting glows in the dark!

This is another of Siobhan's works.

The sentiment on B. Wurtz' painting is priceless.

The cat in this photo bears an eerie resemblance to Jean's cat DeeDee.

We affectionately dub this piece "the Kirsten Hawthorne memorial". Anyone who has visited Kirsten's apartment can attest to her extensive dog collection which could certainly give this cat assemblage a run for its money.

This knitted two-piece outfit is displayed at the top of the stairs as you enter the gallery. It really reminded us of Betsey Johnson's early 1970s work for her Alley Cat label.

It's Kitty Katzy all right.

We couldn't agree more with the advice: Feed All Cats!

Here are a few examples of the clever Robot Cat figures around the gallery. (Note the cleavage on the one on the far left!)

The eyes on these two kittens are the little plastic doll's eyes which move and wiggle, giving the piece a goofy 3-dimensional effect.

This feline cut-out standing in the corner is very lifelike at the right angle.

This photo montage is quite amusing.

Okey dokey. We don't know what it means, but we like it.

This is another painting by Siobhan Meow.

Again, the eyes on this pair really pop out of the frame and grab your attention.
If you can get to White Columns, do yourself a favor. You'll be glad you did.

Jean says: I had a cardboard cut-out cat in my office which made a bomb-sniffing dog (long story) stop dead in his tracks for a full 10 seconds before he regained his composure and continued his circle of the room! His handler had to hide his amusement until after the job was done.

What a fun show, and for a great cause...I'm a little bit in love with the sleeping grey and white kitty. Some very cool art on display - the cat assemblage and the knitted outfit are my personal faves.

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